The efforts of Anupam Sah, left, and Sabyasachi Mukherjee have made the museum more people-friendly, ensuring an exponential increase in footfall

Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Anupam Sah: A museum comes alive

Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Anupam Sah have transformed the CSMVS into the city’s go-to place for heritage.

In 2007, when Sabyasachi Mukherjee took charge as Director General of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), he envisaged it to be more than a Grade I Heritage building. He wanted it to be ‘people-oriented’.

It has been six years since. And whether it is managing a logistical mammoth like Mummy: The Inside Story or sharing their conservation expertise under the tutelage of Anupam Sah, head of the conservation department, the museum is going places. The footfall too, is on the rise. In the last six years, there’s been a 25 per cent rise in visitors, with local participation going up from 11 per cent to 48 per cent this year.

“The numbers are bound to increase if we plan activities. Nobody likes to visit a static exhibit,” explains Mukherjee. “If someone visits the Sculpture Gallery once, why would they want to return? We need to exhibit avant-garde shows to attract the crowds.”

Keeping with the mandate, in 2008, CSMVS collaborated with London’s Victoria and Albert Museum for the Indian Life and Landscape. In 2010, it hosted the Musical Heritage of India exhibition, followed by Treasures of Ancient China in 2011.

But it’s the recently concluded exhibition, Mummy: The Inside Story that turned out to be the showstopper event. It enjoyed a footfall of over three crore, of which two lakh visitors were from the city, says Mukherjee. “This was only possible because of the various educational and cultural activities - anchored by head of the education department Bilwa Kulkarni - that the museum hosted along with the exhibition.”

The launch of the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery in 2011, which gave the ‘traditional’ museum a contemporary wing, and the launch of the Sculpture Gallery in 2012 have upped numbers. Later this year, the city will also witness the opening of its first textile gallery. That apart, the museum is prepping up to house the Cyrus Cylinder, a clay cylinder inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform that carries an account by Persian king Cyrus’s (559-530 BC) conquest of Babylon in 539 BC. In November, the Museum of Antwerp, Belgium, will bring down the works of 40 European masters (including three of Peter Paul Ruben’s works).

And here’s the winner: for the first time in the world, Anwar-i-Suhayli, an Arabic version of Panchtantra (Persian translation by Vaiz Kashifiwa-Damnah), commissioned by emperor Akbar for his son, Prince Salim, will be up on display. The conservation department is working on them to meet the end-of-the-year deadline.

Today, the CSMVS is also helping conserve objects for the governor’s house and the 143-yearold David Sassoon Library, apart from private works. “The conservation department is the hospital of the museum. I wanted it to be constantly operational,” shares Mukherjee, who invited Sah to head it in 2009. “Mukherjee told me that he would like our work to have an incremental impact on the state, the country, and eventually, the sub-continent,” shares Sah. “I think when you have faith in somebody, they tend to deliver.”

Nominated for Giving the museum a new lease of life, and Mumbaikars a chance to know their heritage

GETS MY VOTE Mr Mukherjee has shown vision, commitment, and expertise in re-energising the museum into a space that’s accessible, engaging and educational. - Maithili Parekh, advisor to the Ministry of Culture

Mumbai Heroes Part of Mumbai Mirror’s 8th anniversary celebrations, the Heroes campaign looks beyond everyday do-gooders and simple acts of kindness. This initiative will honour people or institutions that have decisively - and positively - changed Mumbai for the better. If you know a hero, tell us about them @ mumbaimirror.com/form.cms

more mumbaiheroes

Mumbai Heroes nominee: Childline 1098

Kavita, a Vile Parle teen, dialled 1098 after she learnt during an informative session at her school that things her maternal uncle and grandfather did to her were ‘bad’. She gathered the courage to pick up the phone and narrated her horror story to a counsellor manning the world’s largest 24/7 emergency helpline for kids.